Remembering December 16, 1960

It was a quiet, snowy morning fifty years ago in Park Slope, when United Airlines Flight 826 fell from the sky, crashing, nose down, into Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place.

Carl Olson, 84, still remembers hearing the crash all the way at his home, on 11th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

"We heard a very loud boom when the plane came down. Looking around we didn't know what it was," said Olson, who still lives in the same house. "I remember a sense of disbelief, the shock of it happening just a few blocks from where we lived."

The air was frigid and the clouds thick as United Airlines Flight 826 and TWA Flight 266 collided at 10:33 a.m. over a military airfield in Staten Island. The pilot of the United flight tried and failed to keep his plane in the air, finally crashing into the Pillar of Fire Church at 123 Sterling Place. 

All 130 passengers perished, as did six on the ground, including the caretaker at the church, two Christmas tree salesmen, and a sanitation worker. The nearby McCaddin Funeral Home and several Brownstone apartment buildings suffered damage as well. Across the bay, the TWA flight dove to doom Staten Island, killing all 44 passengers.

At the time, the accident was the worst disaster in American aviation history.

Still, 50 years later there is no splendid memorial to the crash, save a small ode to the victims—a miniature bronze plaque in the chapel at Methodist Hospital, where the sole survivor, a young boy, died just 26 hours post crash.

Finally, tomorrow, the United Airlines victims will get their due, when an eight-foot tall granite memorial is unveiled in their honor at Green-Wood Cemetery.

The monument with feature a bronze plaque etched with the names of all 134 victims, and will stand near a gravesite where the remains of unidentified crash victims were stashed in three caskets some 50 years ago.

"I remember the wreck very vividly," said Olson, who could not bear to head towards the scene afterwards, though his belated mother recalled stories of the downed church steeple.

"It was kind of a terrifying experience," he said. "It was very sad."

Memorial unveiling and service at Green-Wood Cemetery on Dec. 16 at 9:45 a.m. Enter at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue in Greenwood Heights. RSVP to (718) 768-7300.